First Date
by Black Raider
Summary: My first Valentine’s Day fic. Time to travel back to Shifu’s days as a youth…….and his first date with his girlfriend Yuki! He may be able to crush bad guys under his fist, but can he get thru the night sane? Featuring klonoakazeno's OC: Ichi!


First Date

Shifu sighed, staring out his bedroom window. He couldn't stop thinking about his long dead fiancé, Yuki. Tonight, they were supposed to have their normal dream date. Shifu remembered their first date together. What a night that had been! It was on Valentine's Day, which was today. Maybe that was why he couldn't take his mind off the young red panda woman he knew so long ago.

"Shifu?" someone called, knocking on the door.

"Come in." Shifu said. A small dog walked in. He had blue eyes, black and white fur, and wore a blue shirt and black pants. "Ah, Ichi, what brings you here?"

"Well, you've kinda been gone the entire day." Ichi said. "I was just wondering what was wrong."

"Nothing much." Shifu said.

"Come on." Ichi said, sitting next to his adoptive father. "What's up?"

"Well……" Shifu sighed. "I was thinking about my fiancé, Yuki."

"You're what?!" Ichi yelled.

"Relax." Shifu said. "You think I can't have a girlfriend? Besides, she died before we were married."

"Well, what was the date like?" Ichi asked.

"Not great." Shifu said.

"Explain." Ichi insisted. Shifu smiled.

"Okay."

*****

Shifu smoothed the fur on his head, feeling his stomach twist into a thousand knots. He was in his best clothes. At least, the best clothes he owned. After he had ran away from his home, his father had disinherited him. Shifu was wearing black pants, his normal shoes, a white long-sleeved shirt, and a forest green vest. His whiskers were starting to grow out, and he combed them a little. But they were so small he figured Yuki wouldn't notice.

"Shifu."

Shifu turned to the door and saw Master Oogway, smiling broadly.

"Yes, Master?" Shifu asked.

"Your date is ready." Oogway said.

"Master!" Shifu said. "It's not a date; we're just going to walk around the village because it's Valentine's Day."

"You know, when I was young, I called that a date." Oogway teased.

"And how old are you?" Shifu teased back. The two of them smiled.

"Well, you best be off." Oogway said, walking away. "Yuki's waiting for you."

"Okay!" Shifu called. He smoothed his fur again before rushing outside to the palace gates. He skidded to a halt when he saw Yuki.

She had obviously gone shopping the day before. She was wearing a pink kimono with white flowers on it, small white shoes, and there was even a lotus blossom behind one ear. Shifu had to use all the willpower he had to not stare with his mouth agape. He cleared his throat and stood next to her. Yuki smelled like roses, most likely from some oil or perfume.

"Ready?" Yuki asked.

"Yep." Shifu said nervously. Yuki giggled lightly. Shifu felt his face burn with embarrassment.

The two of them walked into town, heading for a small restaurant. They sat down and waited patiently for their waiter.

"So, what did you do back home?" Yuki asked.

"You mean, back at the village?" Shifu asked. Yuki nodded. "Well, I was the youngest of the house, so I was pretty worthless. But after Mom died, I became a mother figure to my older brother. But then he died during that bad winter we had."

"I remember that." Yuki said. "My parents died during that winter." Shifu sighed. Everyone in the village remembered how Yuki's parents, some of the nicest people you could ever meet, had died the terrible winter. Yuki was only seven, and nobody knew how she'd survive. But, amazingly, she pulled thru.

"So, after I lost my mother and my brother, my father treated me like his prized possession." Shifu continued. "It wasn't until I was fifteen that I realized what that meant; he wanted me to marry the chief's daughter so he could be rich."

"I hated your father." Yuki said. "The chief's daughter too."

"Yeah." Shifu said. Their waiter came by with two bowls of noodles. They thanked the old goose (not Mr. Ping, but his father) and ate. The dinner was silent, mostly because Shifu didn't know what to say. Yuki was watching him, wondering if they were thinking the same thing.

Suddenly, a slice of vegetable slipped out of Shifu's chopsticks and it went flying, hitting Yuki in the face and landing in her soup. Shifu's face went red under his fur. He stared at Yuki with shock.

"I….I'm so sorry…." He stuttered. "I didn't…" Yuki started laughing. She picked up the vegetable and ate it.

"You know, you could've just handed it to me righter than throw it in my face." She said. Shifu chuckled nervously. He thought, _I am so lame. _

They finished dinner, paid for it, and resumed their walk around town. Shifu kept stealing glances at Yuki, but would look away quickly when she looked at him. They stopped by some street vendors, looking at different foods and jewelry. While Yuki was staring intently at a painting, Shifu spied a necklace on the next stand over. He walked over and saw it was a hunk of jade carved into a snowflake.

"How much for that?" he asked, pointing to the necklace.

"5 Yuan." The vendor said. Shifu handed him the money and hid the necklace in his pocket. Suddenly, someone shouted, "Let go!" Shifu whipped around and saw three boars surrounding Yuki. One of them was flirting with her while the other two were making sure she didn't run.

"Come on, baby." The first one flirting with her said, keeping a firm grip on her arm. "Why don't you come with us? We'll show you a good time."

"Yeah." The second said. "A small room, some candlelight……."

"A nice, comfy bed." The third said.

Shifu snarled, rushing to Yuki. "Back off!" he yelled, punching the first boar away. "Don't touch her!"

"Hey you runt!" the first boar said, standing up. "You want to die today or something?" Shifu hissed, keeping Yuki behind him.

"Let's teach this guy a lesson." The third boar said. Shifu pushed Yuki back as the boars rushed to him. The boars were tough, but Shifu had learned a few kung fu moves from Oogway. But Shifu and Yuki had arrived at the Jade Palace only a year previous. Hence the reason Shifu was beaten and ended up with two boars holding him back while the first moved in to punch him in the stomach. The boars released him, and Shifu went to his knees, completely having the wind knocked out of him. The first boar moved in to punch him again when Yuki rushed forward and gave the boar a flying kick, sending him crashing into his comrades.

"Next time, don't mess with students of the Jade Palace!" Yuki hissed. The boars stared at her, and then ran for their lives. If Master Oogway heard about this, they'd be in a mess of trouble. Yuki helped Shifu up.

"Thank you." Yuki said. "For helping me."

"Not a problem." Shifu said. The two of them kept going with their date, walking around and looking at the stars coming out. Shifu couldn't help but feel stupid.

_I should've been able to handle those boars. _He thought. _I must've looked so stupid. _

Yuki noticed her friend looking sad. "Why don't we stop here?" she suggested, gesturing to a small group of rocks. Yuki led Shifu to the largest rock and made him sit down. "I'll go get us something to eat." Yuki left for a stand nearby. Shifu sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the jade snowflake he had gotten for Yuki.

"She wouldn't like it anyway." He muttered to himself, stuffing it back into his pocket. Yuki came back with two, small, chocolate cakes. They ate in silence, Yuki glancing worriedly at Shifu from time to time. For a long time, even after they were done eating, they were silent, and it was an awkward silence. Then, Yuki finally heard some music. She got up and walked towards it, Shifu following. They walked a ways away before stopping and seeing a band in a courtyard. People laughed and danced, moving with the music. Yuki got an idea.

"Dance with me!" she said, pulling Shifu into the groups of dancers.

"What?" Shifu asked, trying to pull back. "No way; I'm not sure how."

"Just hear the beat and move your feet." Yuki said, dragging him to the center of the courtyard. Yuki started dancing with ease, but she had it easy; she was the best dancer in the village. Shifu tried to dance, but he just tripped and fell over. A couple people chuckled heartily. Yuki helped Shifu up as a slower song was just playing.

"This should be easy for you." Yuki said.

"There is no way I'm dancing to a song like this." Shifu retorted. Yuki smirked.

"Oh yes you are." She said. "Do it, or I'll tell Master Oogway where you've been stashing the cookies."

Shifu's eyes got wide. "You wouldn't." he said.

"Try me." Yuki challenged. Shifu finally gave up. "Alright." Yuki instructed. "I have a relative that travels the world, and he showed me this. It's called ballroom dancing. Just place your hand at my waist, and your other hand goes in mine, and I'll put my free hand on your shoulder. Now, wherever I step, you follow." Yuki started moving, and Shifu caught on quickly. Together, they moved with grace and softness of a swan. When the song was over, they decided to head home. The moods of the red pandas had brightened considerably, and they couldn't stop talking and laughing on the way home. By the time they got to the steps, they were pretty much all smiles.

"I had fun tonight." Shifu said. "The most fun I've had in years."

"Same here." Yuki said. She yawned. "Well, I'm bushed. I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Night." Shifu said. Yuki walked off. Shifu stuffed his hands in his pockets, smiling. But then he frowned when he felt something. He pulled it out and almost cursed; it was the jade snowflake.

"Yuki!" Shifu yelled, running after his friend. "Wait!" he managed to catch up with her and he handed the necklace to her. "I got this for you in the marketplace." He said. "I thought it would suit you."

"How?" Yuki asked, holding the snowflake in her hand as though it were delicate.

"Well…" Shifu thought hard. "It's a snowflake, because your name means snow in Japanese. And it's jade, for the Jade Palace. And it's beautiful, because…."

"Because what?" Yuki asked. Shifu sighed, took the necklace, and placed it around Yuki's neck.

"Because I think you're the most beautiful girl in the world." Shifu said. He stepped back and watched as Yuki stared down at her necklace. Shifu waited a long time for a response, but when he received nothing, he just sulked back to his room. He flopped down on his bed.

"I knew I didn't have a chance with her." He said. Suddenly, there was a hard knock on his door. Shifu got up and opened it…..

….and Yuki kissed him.

She smiled at him.

"I love you." She said. Shifu stared at her, hardly able to say those same words back. Yuki chuckled. "Are boys always this difficult?" She walked back to her room to sleep, giving Shifu a little wave.

Shifu stared straight ahead, his mouth agape.

Then, he smiled dreamily.

And fainted.

*****

"You fainted?!" Ichi cried.

"Don't you dare tell anyone I said that." Shifu said.

"Wow!" Ichi said. "I can't believe it!"

"Well, that's what happens when you underestimate someone like me." Shifu said. "Now, don't _you _have a date this evening?" Ichi's eyes got wide and he ran off. Shifu chuckled. He smiled at his memory. He couldn't wait to tell Yuki about it.

A/N: Cool, right? My first Valentine's Day fic! Read and Review!


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